Second grade student seriously hurt after falling from school roof

A seven-year-old student was seriously injured when he fell from the roof of a three-floor private school.

Mansoor Mohammad Tawfeeq, a grade two student, was reportedly with three friends when he fell on the playground concrete. He was transferred to a local hospital and was said to be suffering from pelvic, leg, thigh, hand and shoulder fractures in addition to bleeding in the liver and spleen, local Arabic daily Al Riyadh reported on Thursday.

“I pay fees in excess of SR14,000 ($3,732) to make sure that my son receives the necessary care at school, and then I get a phone call that he is seriously injured,” a distraught father told the daily. “Where were the school supervisor, guard and principal? How did a school under the education ministry leave the roof door open? Where is the compliance with the safety standards when the roof wall is low? I am shocked,” he said.

According to the father, Mansoor was with three friends when he fell.

“I thank God nothing has happened to the other three and that they are safe.”

The boy’s mother was deeply distressed, he said.

“It is not easy for her to bid her son farewell in the morning only to see him deeply injured in the afternoon because of the school negligence,” he said. The boy is still in the intensive care unit.

The school principal said that Mansoor and his three friends sneaked onto the roof between the third and fourth periods while workers were trying to fix some air conditioners.

The boy is believed to have fallen while trying to climb the roof wall, he said.

“This is fate and it was meant to happen. The wall was too low and it is supposed to be much higher. The door to the roof is usually locked and is opened only to allow workers to do maintenance work,” Fuad Al Omran, the school principal, told the daily. “The floor supervisor was present, but the boys sneaked onto the roof and were not noticed.”

The principal pledged the school’s full support to the student and his family.

“The school sought to provide help since the unfortunate accident and was present with him throughout the surgeries. We will stand by the family to the end of the treatment. We do appreciate the comprehension of the father as well as his patience,” he said.